Wyatt Cenac, a former writer and correspondent on US late night show The Daily Show, has recounted how a heated run-in with host Jon Stewart left him hating his job.

In an interview for comedian Marc Maron’s podcast WTF, Cenac revealed his departure from the show had a lot to do with a confrontation between himself and Stewart bad in 2011.

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Stewart, who is leaving the show after 16 years of hosting, allegedly lost his temper when Cenac questioned a bit he felt was racially insensitive and “ignorant”.

The planned skit, which eventually aired in mid-2011, featured Stewart mocking Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain’s speaking voice.

When Cenac decided to speak up during a writer’s meeting, Stewart shot him down and told him to “f**k off”.

“He got incredibly defensive,” Cenac told Maron.

“I remember he was like, ‘What are you trying to say? There’s a tone in your voice’. I was like, ‘There’s no tone. It bothered me. It sounded like Kingfish.’ And then he got upset. And he stood up and he was just like, ‘F**k off. I’m done with you’. And he just started screaming that to me. And he screamed it a few times. ‘Fuck off! I’m done with you.’ And he stormed out. And I didn’t know if I had been fired.”

“He went to his office and I just followed him and we got into the argument and it continued there and he yelled and never saw my point … I didn’t get fired.”

“I was a f**king wreck. I went for a walk … I just sat there by myself on the bleachers and f**king cried,” he added.

While Stewart allegedly apologised to all the staff soon after, Cenac said the damage had already been done, contributing to his decision to leave the show a year later.

“John Oliver was like ‘please stay’ so … I stuck around one more year and it was just miserable.”

According to Cenac, Stewart’s only apology was, “I just shouldn’t have yelled at you”.

After the bit aired, current presidential candidate Donald Trump came out and criticised Stewart for the skit, questioning why people let Stewart get away with the “very, very racist” impression.

When asked if he got along with Stewart in general prior to the incident, Cenac responded: “Nah … He was a boss. I think at the end of the day he was a boss.”

“He was a guy that kind of stayed in his office — it wasn’t like he hung out.”

Cenac added that he was unsure whether he would attend Stewart’s farewell episode on August 6.

“If I’m gonna show up, I don’t wanna show up with any false pretense. I am grateful for that job and I love that job … but there was also a lot of pain there,” he said.

You can listen to the full interview here.